South Seas Island Resort, Captiva

Great resort to stay. The Cottages are a great size and lots of ammenities - sleeps eight! We only had one complaint.... The floors and rugs desperately need cleaning. We had a great time; truly relaxing. Everyone was very nice and very helpful. They helped us at the beach with wheelchair access. Four of us shared the very large place and everyone is waiting to back again next year. We have stayed on Sanibel and Captiva Island many times.

We loved our stay! We rode the rental bikes around the resort, to the long private beach, & to the pool with the beautiful view overlooking the bay. We rented fishing poles and had a great time catching fish off the dock. And there were so many more things to do that we didn't have time for. It was fun yet also relaxing with a real island feel. Prices were expensive, but we found the quality of food to be very good at The Pointe and Harbourside Grill. Our only problem was the bed which was too firm for our comfort. We stayed in a Habourside Waterview unit and it had a great view.

Terribly dirty room. Terrible guest services. Not near anything. No choice for food. Bar doesn't open until noon. Nowhere to get lunch for kids (other than unhealthy pizza - every day of the week?!) until noon. Terribly off marketing - pictures, etc. are all a lie. Would NEVER EVER stay again! A longer, more detailed review follows: My husband and I have two little girls - four and one. We have been planning, and looking forward to, this trip for more than two years. We booked our room on May 30, 2010. We were told that there was no reason to rent a car, b/c EVERYTHING (including the Starbucks) was within walking distance of our booked room at The Pointe. And that there was a free shuttle to downtown Sanibel, should we want to visit there. The room we booked was to have two queens and be a "harbourside water view". When we arrived on April 25th, (after a long morning of travel with two young children), we were told that the room we wanted was not available and that we would need to take a king with a pull out couch. I asked to wait longer for a room with two queens, but was told that this would not be possble and that the king/sofa bed room had a wonderful, relaxing balcony overlooking the water. I had to take this room, and decided to just make the best of it. As we arrived in our room, we noticed that the "relaxing balcony" was on the first floor about 10 feet away from the wave runner rental. Not relaxing at all, but, again, something we'd deal with and make the best of. We then attempted to go onto the balcony, but our sliding door was stuck - there was a can of silly string stuck in the door, so that it would explode as we tried to open the door. We were angry, but just threw the can out and went on to unpacking. As I tried to open the closet door, my hand got stuck in vaseline - which we found in EVERY SINGLE door handle in the room. Before calling the concierge, I went to shower to "calm down", but ended up getting another handful of vaseline as I tried to turn the shower on b/c it too was coated in vaseline - AS WAS THE TELEPHONE. There was a red powder on the curtains and bed and the list goes on. We were moved to what South Seas called "a step up to a Villa". The villa was NOT located near the pools, beach, restaurants or store - which was the MAIN REASON we were staying at South Seas - and had rented no car. The ONLY thing the hotel did for us was let us use a golf cart - which is NOT the safest mode of travel for an 18 month old child. So now I had a "villa" which was NOT a villa, rather a condominium - with a DISHWASHER, kitchen, etc. that I needed to use! As a stay at home mom of two, who is NOT rich, the SINGLE LARGEST THING I was looking forward to on this vacation was NOT having a kitchen and dishes to do! The hotel was NEVER able to move us to a room at "The Pointe" and made no concessions or gave us ANY credits WHATSOEVER. I was forced to purchase WAY overpriced groceries at the hotel's store, since I did not have a car to go into town to a normal grocery store - b/c I had not planned on needing to do this. Additionally, we found out that the Starbucks was nowhere close to walking distance from either of our rooms and there was NO FREE SHUTTLE to downtown Sanibel. At checkout, I kindly requested a credit, yet again, as the room was nothing near what I had booked. And was again denied. I then asked for a survey and was told that they did not have one, but I would get one in my email, which I have yet to get. This trip was a nightmare. DO NOT STAY AT SOUTH SEAS!

Ok. First, the location is a bit of a hassle to get to but once you're there you won't want to leave. It's paradise. It can get better if it's easier to get to. The service is great, not on your case but is there most of the time. It's very sanitary. The value is a bit expensive but belive me it's worth it. There's many differentways to go and places to go. There are waterslides, golf cart rentals, pools, restaurants, and an ice cream shop all within a block of eachother and is a brief walk away. Travel on the island itself is a breeze for that there are trollies that take you to many locations throughout the resort. The resort doesn't accept cash which is a bummer but whatever you buy on the resort, you can just charge it to your room which makes life so much easier. If you're planning a vacation to Sanibel, you gotta come to Captiva.

After planning for a three year anniversary get away. I thought this would be a perfect place to take the Mrs. was I way off. I really enjoyed the internet photos, but that was not what we experienced. Being on and Island I assumed we would be on some sort of beach front my mistake. Totally misunderstood the slogan sand, sea, and fun. Our room overlooked the boat slips and the beach was on the other end, and the majority of it is hidden buy hedge rows which you can't see over. The restaurant was defiantly over priced my not have bugged me if there was more on the menu than 4 to 5 entrees, by the third day we had eaten it or didn't want it makes for a long week. Pool closed way earlier than I would think wasn't on a time frame, went sun up to sunrise which was like 7:30. Had the best time when we went in town. I guess I expecting more for my buck. My advice trim the hedge rows nothing like knowing the sea you came for it right behind it.

After being at South Seas over the years we decided another stay with my mother would be a nice trip down memory lane. Upon making reservation the reservations desk suggested and sounded like encoraged us to get an early arrival on my day of check in if available, but we were free to use pool, restaurants, bars until room was ready. They checked me in at 2 pm and told me they would call my cell phone as soon as my room was ready and that housekeeping was in process of cleaning. By 4pm I had to contact resevations back and ask them if my room was ready -she said they were in my room cleaning at that time and it would be ready by 4:30pm. and they would call me back. By 5pm, no call back and I phoned again. They said that Don, the reservations Mgr was assisting other guests and would have to call me back, too busy. I explained that I was a guest and my room was now 1 hour over check in time. Another 20 minutes pass and I phoned Don, reservations, and he apologized and never did tell me if my room was ready. He did ask me what they could do to make it right and We checked out immediately! We were extremely inconvenienced and dissapointed.But, over 48 hours and I have still not received my Email confirmation as he was too busy at the time assisting "other guests". BIG SURPRISE HUH! I have called again but havent received as of today. We had to cancel dinner reservations due to not being able to get into our room to shower and change. The pool area was filled with alot of concrete and the Old Florida charm is GONE!!! You may as well be at Wet and Wild. We went to a very nice hotel, Seaside Inn on Sanibel and had wonderful accomodations - very tropical and clean. We will NOT return to South Seas Resort!

Great staff, beautiful beaches, great food, the atmosphere. Can't ask for better, my wife and i stay there for honeymoon. We loved it

There was constructon equipment and saws running the entire week. An apathetic Hilton Staff did not even offer to fins us a new room. Total lack of hospitality. You can get abused at a much better bargain at The Red Roof Inn.

South Seas Island Resort was nothing short of amazing. It's definitely upscale, but you know what they say -- you get what you pay for. We stayed right on the golf course in one of the townhome-style villas near the pool. Even though we were there during construction, the staff did their best to be personable and keep the area clean. We went on one of the waverunner tours hosted by hotel's marina staff and it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Our guide, Logan, was very knowledgable and made sure we had fun and adventure mixed with a little history and info about the island. We managed to golf just once ($50 greens fee makes it pricey to go more than once) and it's not only a beautiful course, but a challenging and fun one as well. We did not get to try the restaurant in the pool area, but we made good use of the ice cream parlor and the wine bar across the street (Wine Flight Up). We also enjoyed some fantastic barbeque at Holy Smoke. The staff at each place could not have been friendlier or more attentive. By far, my favorite part of the trip was lounging on South Sea's gorgeous beach. Drinks and food at the bar are in the $8-20 range, so pack a cooler if you don't want to go broke there (and that's easy to do since you must charge everything you buy at the resort back to your room). Also, we saw a guy pull up to the beach on a boat and sell food and drinks out of the back of it, I'm assuming at a much more reasonable price. Apparently he's like the beach-side ice cream man and seemed to be quite popular with the other beachgoers. If you're looking for non-stop action, Captiva/Sanibel is definitely not for you. But if you're ok with taking things slow (even the speedlimit at the resort is 19 mph!), and look for nothing more in a vacation than relaxing with a good book, a couple drinks, and some amazing scenery in the background, pack your bags!

Got there and because of a slight mixup with our reservation Denise, the manager-- what a gal! comped my wife and I dinner and wine at The Harbourside Steakhouse on the site...now thats generous. The tab would have easily been over 100 dollars -- I tipped 40 bucks because the waitress and restaurant managers were exceedingly gracious and courteous besides. I had lobster and the wife had a pork chop, both were perfectly done and could only be described as delicacies, sides of asparagus with a corn relish and potato ...perfect. The restaurant had an acoustic guitar player whose music wafted thru the room singing perfectly, song after song -- terrific memorable atmosphere. Everything about the resort was fantastic. We went for a walk thru the golf course grass and the beaches' talcum powder sand barefoot to catch the sunset. There are lots of swimming pools for kids and adults with poolside libations, free towels, beachside chairs next to the pool and free water. The room's bathroom was luxurious with a large soaking tub the back of which is angled for comfort, twin granite sinks, upscale hardware ...oh, and robes and fluffy towels. All in all just incomporable at these rates.